Polish Babka Bread is a sweet leavened bread made from a rich buttery dough.
Get an authentic taste of Poland with these recipes for Polish breads. You'll love sampling traditional baked goods like potato bread, sauerkraut bread, soda bread, and more!
An old Polish flatbread that's so simple and easy to make at home, the podplomyki Polish flatbread recipe is so tasty!
Get an authentic taste of Poland with these recipes for Polish breads. You'll love sampling traditional baked goods like potato bread, sauerkraut bread, soda bread, and more!
The Polish overnight bread recipe is simple and easy to make. All you need is an hour of baking time in the morning!
Karpatka, one of the most popular Polish cakes, has two layers of choux pastry sandwiched with a decadent vanilla cream filling. A dusting of powdered sugar on top helps the rustic pâte à choux resemble the snow-capped Carpathian Mountains in Poland.
Try these traditional Polish breakfast recipes for something new and exciting! From porridge to potato bread to crepes, bring a taste of Poland to your morning.
Bułka z rodzynkami or is a yeast-based Polish sweet bread with raisins. Light and fluffy, it's often eaten for breakfast or as a snack!
Many different versions of this rich bread, laced with rum syrup and drizzled with icing, are served at Easter in Polish households. It's such a tradition, and so well-loved, that there are probably as many babka recipes as there are Polish bakers! This particular recipe was inspired by one in our 1990 200th Anniversary Cookbook, which includes a wealth of recipes and information from cultures around the world. You'll notice that, despite being made with yeast, it's an easy batter bread; "no-knead" isn't as new a concept as you might think.
This Polish chałka (egg-twist bread) is usually studded with raisins and popular at Christmas and Easter.
Kucha Polish Sweet Bread Kucha is a polish sweet bread that has been on my Mom's side of the family for many generations. It is pronounced, "Cuha" and it became our family's traditional holiday breakfast bread for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings. The crumbs to this bread are many people's favorite part, and I have to agree, they are delicious! I remember hearing stories of my great grandmother teaching my grandmother when she got married, then my grandmother making it, then my Mom and yesterday I ventured into the unknown territory! I had always wanted to make the bread, but since we live so close to my parents we always were gifted a loaf on the holidays by my Mom to enjoy with our own family the morning we would wake. This Easter, Jeremy's family is coming to celebrate with us, so it was time to make my own batch. The day has to be set aside when making Kucha, since it becomes a 5 hour process between prep, rising and baking- but trust me, if you invest the time you won't regret it! In fact, this morning when we woke, I could still smell the bread in the kitchen making it very difficult to resist them until Easter morning! This recipe makes 4 loaves of bread- it is perfect for sharing with family and friends and still enjoying on your holiday morning. Want to know how we did it?? To ensure that my boys had a clear way to follow the recipe in the future, I photographed EVERY step to lessen confusion. So pardon the mass pictures, as they should be helpful in trying to recreate the recipe. Here we go! Start by prepping- grind one lemon to retain the rind for a lemon zest. Then set aside 5 eggs about 30 minutes before hand to ensure the eggs are at room temperature. Get your yeast ready ... and set aside the following ingredients for your dough preparation: 2 sticks butter 2 c milk 1 c sugar 2 tsp yeast 1/2 tsp mace 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 c golden raisins (optional) Heat 2 c milk on very low temperature. When warm take out 1/4 c of the milk and set aside in a small bowl. Add 2 sticks of butter to the remaining milk in saucepan, add the lid and turn off the heat. Let the butter melt. In the bowl with the 1/4 c milk, add a pinch of sugar and 2 tsp yeast ... ... stir gently and let it rise. Put all the flour (7 cups) in a large bowl, add the lemon rind as well as the mace and cinnamon. Gather your 5 eggs ... Crack them ... and set aside. Before moving on with your eggs, check on your yeast to make sure it is becoming activated. Now, beat all 5 eggs with the sugar and vanilla until it has a lemony coloring. Slowly add the egg mixture to the flour mixture ... then the yeast mixture ... and finally the melted butter and milk mixture from the stove top. I love seeing my Mom's hands working with my boys' hands, so sweet! Use a wooden spoon to mix together. If you want to add golden raisins, add them at this time. When it is completely mixed, beat the dough with your hand until it comes off of your hand quickly. My mom showed Cole how to do this. This was my favorite part when I was little! My brother, sister and I would all take turns slapping the dough- Cole started and got weirded out by the texture on his hands ... Braydon gave it a try and then started to eat the dough on his hands, so I took over. When the dough pulls from your hand, it is done. Scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl. Take a piece of wax paper and cover the bowl ... then place a towel over the wax paper and place in the oven that has been warmed for 3 hours, allowing the dough to rise. While the dough is rising, begin making the crumbs. On medium/low heat, melt 2 sticks butter in a deep fry pan. While I made the crumbs, my Mom and the boys watched the Velveteen Rabbit- I love how they all cuddle up close to each other! Back to the crumbs- In a small bowl, mix together 2 3/4 c flour and 1 1/4 c sugar. When the butter is completely melted in the pan, pour the flour and sugar into the pan and using a wooden spoon, slowly stir it all together. When your crumbs resemble this texture, you are done. Turn the stove off and let the crumbs cool- while eating some of course! Considering we had a few hours while the dough had to rise, we decided to cover our crumbs for later and head out for a donut run for the boys ... and a much need coffee run for Mommy and Grammie! Sweet Braydon fell asleep on the way home, so when we came home we set up a picnic to Cole's request where Grammie, Mommy and Cole sat around on a blanket in our family room and had lunch together. We checked on our dough and it was ready! See how much the dough had risen?? Cole and I separated the dough into four sections, for our four loaves .... we admit, we played a little with the dough! Spray your 4 loaf pans with a non-stick spray and fill the pans with the dough. Beat up 1 egg and brush the egg over the top of the dough ... ... Cole was so patient and helpful, but I think he was getting a bit tired at this point! Now that our egg has been brushed onto our dough, it is time to add the crumbs. CRUMBS! Take a large spoon to top the dough with the crumbs ... evenly distributing them amongst each loaf. Gently pat the crumbs into the egg topped dough to help the crumbs to stick, but be careful not to press down too hard because the dough with not bake as high, as the rising element will be patted out. Let the loaves rise again for about an hour, covering them with a towel and let them sit on top of your counter, untouched. After the hour, you should notice that the dough and crumbs have risen again, measuring to the brim of your loaf pans. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While I got started on some dishes, Grammie and the boys played trains. Once the oven is ready, gently place all 4 loaves in to bake for 30 minutes. Place a piece of foil under the pans to catch the crumbs that may fall while baking. After 30 minutes you will find this delicious bread waiting for you! Let the bread cool for about 15 minutes before removing from the pans. After the loaves have cooled about an hour out of their pans, cover to keep them fresh, or enjoy! I am so blessed to have had yesterday's baking time with my Mom. I am so grateful to have learned our family's tradition and to have also shared it with both her and my own boys! What a special time for us all- continuing our tradition with another generation!
This easy poppy seed roll recipe makes two delicious loaves of golden yeast bread swirled with a creamy homemade poppy seed filling.
Placek (plah-sek) in Polish just means cake, but placek around Buffalo (and probably other cities with a high Polish population) refers to a sweet yeast bread topped with sugary crumble, with or without golden raisins served on Easter. It seems like paczki have found their way around the blog world fairly easily (I assume because everyone has an obsession with doughnuts and things cooked in hot oil), but you hardly see placek, which is a shame! Placek dough is a unique combination of a fermented yeast sponge (warm milk, yeast, a bit of sugar and flour) combined with a creamed butter, sugar, flour and egg mixture. Even though I've made so many other bread recipes over the years, the smell of yeast still reminds me of placek - every year when my mom would bring out the biggest bowl in the kitchen, I knew it was time to make Easter placek. Although the representation of yeast breads on this blog isn't much, I love working with yeast a great deal, but the problem with bread is that it makes quite a bit and stales quickly. Around holidays this seems to be an easier issue to tackle since more people are around to eat things. I know Easter isn't for a couple of weeks, but I think yeast breads can seem daunting to people so it might be easier to spread the workload over a few days. This bread can also be wrapped well and frozen, then taken out as necessary for eating and giving away, meaning it can be made ahead of time! Placek is the kind of bread that begs to be spread with butter - it's not like a moist sour cream coffee cake. It has a drier crumb, making it an even better partner to coffee or tea. Traditionally, my mom always added sliced almonds to the crumb topping and golden raisins to the bread dough but I've also seen recipes without them. Either way, I'm proud to present this placek recipe - a true family tradition I can't imagine an Easter morning without! Easter Placek Sponge: 2 cups milk, around 105 degrees to 115 degrees F. 2 packages active dry yeast, or 5 teaspoons 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 cups of flour In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk with the sugar and let stand until foamy, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the flour, then cover the bowl and let the sponge rise until doubled in size, 30 minutes to an hour. Dough: 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 cups granulated sugar 6 large eggs, at room temperature 1 teaspoon salt Dash of ground nutmeg Zest of one orange or lemon 4 cups all-purpose flour 1 to 1 1/2 cups golden raisins In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, then add the eggs in one at a time and beat until fluffy. Add in the salt, nutmeg, zest and 2 cups of flour, then beat well. When the sponge has risen, add that to the creamed mixture along with the last 2 cups of flour and the golden raisins, then knead or use the dough hook on a mixer for 5 minutes, until you have a very smooth, elastic, sticky dough. Using greased hands, place the dough into a large greased or buttered bowl. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until doubled in size, an hour to 2 1/2 hours. You can also refrigerate the dough at this point up to 3 days. When you're ready to shape the loaves, let the dough come to room temperature first. Crumble topping: 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 to 2 cups sliced almonds Cut the butter into the sugar and flour until it's fully mixed in and crumbly, then stir in the almonds. When the dough has risen, use greased or wet hands to remove portions of it and divide it among 4 greased 9x5" loaf pans (or mini loaf and cake pans, as I like to do. My mom tended to do 1 9x5" and 2 9" cake pans, it doesn't really matter, use what works for you!) Divide the crumb mixture over the loaves, pressing in lightly (you will almost definitely have some left over, I always do and you can see how much I use.) Cover the pans, then let the dough rise until doubled or until they're almost risen to the top. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. and when the loaves have risen, bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until golden brown on top. Let them cool on wire racks, then invert them and cool completely before wrapping and freezing or keeping airtight at room temperature. I won't lie and say there's an easy way to get these out of the pan without all of the crumbs coming off, but that's why the crumb recipe makes so much! Enjoy sliced and slathered with butter :)
Polish proziaki are surprisingly easy to make. It will literally take 10 minutes to have them ready and another 15 minutes to bake. So they will make a perfect base for breakfast if you run out of bread or you simply don't feel like walking to the bakery.
Get an authentic taste of Poland with these recipes for Polish breads. You'll love sampling traditional baked goods like potato bread, sauerkraut bread, soda bread, and more!
Drożdżówka z serem is probably the most famous Polish snack to have on the go. You can buy it in every bakery for about 50 cents. It's yummy and filling. Of course, you can make it at home as well!
Easter time is upon us and even though we are stuck inside quarantined this year, I’m still doing my best to make it special in our house. In my family Easter has always included many of our Polish traditional dishes. From kielbasa, to coloring hard boiled eggs, butter lamb to desserts like babka- a personal […] Read more...
